Patent Application
20200359808
The present invention relates generally to devices and techniques for aiding motor skill development in babies, and more particularly to baby stand-up aids for development of gross motor skills.
Devices used to aid or encourage a baby's development of gross motor skills (standing, balancing, walking) are conventionally focussed on development of walking skills, and tend not to focus on earlier development of basic standing skills. CN103230183 is one of a number of applications by Ningbo Zhenhai Ximen Patent Technology Development Co., Ltd. for a standing aid featuring a top-padded wooden base plate atop which an externally padded steel is erected, on which there are carried graspable elements by which a baby can pull themself upward into an erect standing position, and learn to balance as they prepare to take their first steps. However, the devices are relatively bulky, thus either being space intensive for transport or storage, or requiring assembly or disassembly of multiple components to transition between an erected ready state, and a collapsed storage or transport state.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved solutions for helping development of a child's gross motor skills.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided, for use by a baby during development of gross motor skills, a stand-up training aid useful in combination with a water cooler bottle having a lower main body of generally cylindrical shape, an upper neck of lesser diameter that said main lower body, and an intermediate shoulder section tapering upwardly and inwardly from said lower main body to said upper neck, said baby stand-up training aid comprising:
a bottle cover comprising:
a shroud sized and shaped to fit over said water cooler bottle in an installed position spanning circumferentially around the lower main body of the water cooler bottle, and in overlying relation to the intermediate shoulder section of the water cooler bottle around the upper neck thereof; and
any one or more of the following:
a mat attached or attachable to the shroud at a lower end thereof and emanating outwardly therefrom in order surround the water cooler bottle in a lain position atop a ground or floor surface when the lower main body of the water cooler bottle is seated on said ground or floor surface;
a plurality climbing elements attached to an exterior of the shroud that faces outwardly away from the water cooler bottle in the installed position to enable manual gripping of said climbing elements by said baby, said climbing elements being distributed circumferentially around the shroud on all sides thereof and distributed at multiple elevations on said shroud on each of said sides thereof;
ornamental and/or interactive elements attached to the shroud at or proximate an upper end thereof to reside at or proximate an upper end of the water cooler bottle in the working position of the shroud to attract attention of the baby toward elevated locations on or above the water cooler bottle; and
connection elements attached to the shroud at or proximate an upper end thereof to accept selective coupling of toys or accessories to the shroud to attract attention of the baby toward elevated locations on or above the water cooler bottle.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of aiding development of a baby's gross motor skills, said method comprising using a ballast-filled water cooler bottle seated on a ground or floor surface as a weighted object against which the baby can lean and climb into a standing position.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The water bottle cover 10 features a flexible hollow shroud 24 particularly shaped and configured so that its internal shape closely conforms to the outer shape of the water bottle 12 when fitted thereover. The shroud 24 thus features an internally cylindrical lower section 26 of uniform internal diameter, an internally tapered intermediate section 27 of non-uniform internal diameter that reduces upwardly from the lower section 26, and an internally cylindrical upper section 29 that stands upright from the tapered intermediate section 27 and has a uniform internal diameter less than that of the larger cylindrical lower section 26. The internal diameters of the shroud's lower, intermediate and upper sections closely conform to the outer diameters of the bottle's lower main body, intermediate shoulder, and upper neck, respectively. The hollow shroud has a fabric construction, which may feature a resiliently stretchable fabric, in which case the internal dimensions of the shroud in its unstretched normal state may be intentionally undersized relative to the outer dimensions of a typical 5-gallon water cooler bottle to ensure a relatively tight, conforming fit to the exterior of the bottle when stretched thereover, despite minor subtle variations in water cooler bottles from different suppliers.
The bottom end of the shroud's lower section 26 is open to enable placement of the shroud over the water bottle 12. Attached to this bottom end of the shroud is an annular floor mat 28 extending radially outward from the shroud and spanning circumferentially around the entire outer perimeter thereof. Accordingly, with the water bottle 12 in an upright position with its base 18 seated on a ground or floor surface S, as shown in
The lower section 26 of the shroud 24 features a plurality of climbing elements 32 protruding outwardly therefrom on all four sides of its outer periphery at multiple elevations thereon, thus enabling a baby to use such elements climb up into a standing position on any of the four sides of the water bottle during use of the present invention. In the illustrated example, the climbing elements are a series of annular ribs or ridges each spanning a full circumference around the lower section 26 of the shroud at a respective elevation thereon, whereby at any point around the circumference of the bottle and shroud, the baby has something to grip at any of these elevations.
However, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments, each climbing element need be a full-circumference climbing element spanning continuously and fully around the shroud. As an alternative, smaller separate climbing elements may reside at discretely spaced-apart positions around the circumference of the shroud and bottle at various elevations thereof. In the full circumference example, each rib or ridge may be formed by a pleat-folded region of the fabric stuffed with a flexible filler. In embodiments with discrete climbing elements, they may be similarly formed by stuffed fabric pouches sewn to the shroud. In other examples, the climbing elements may simply be flexible fabric flaps or straps hanging from the exterior of the shroud, as opposed to a stuffed pleat or pouch. While loops may be employed as climbing elements, these may be less preferable other alternatives, to prevent the risk of a baby's arm or hand becoming caught in the loop, potentially resulting in injury should the child lose their balance and fall back to the ground from a full or partial standing position. In the instance of such a fall, the raised rim 30 at the outer perimeter of the floor mat 28 helps prevent or reduce the likelihood of the baby rolling off the floor mat 28. The climbing elements also need not have a fabric construction, and could for example be small plastic or rubber grips, affixed at discrete locations, whereby flexible fabric shroud can still be folded at unoccupied areas between the discretely mounted grips. Such grips may be of relatively rigid incompressible hardness, or may be resiliently compressible, at least at an outer layer thereof, to allow the baby's manual grip to dig deform the outer surface in a squeezing fashion.
In use of the stand-up training aid, a baby crawls toward the bottle-encapsulating shroud 24, and in doing so travels onto the floor mat 28 that surrounds the shroud and encapsulated bottle. Once sufficiently close to the shroud, the baby can manually grasp the climbing elements 32, and use same to pull themself up into a full or partially erect standing position. The tapered shoulder of the water bottle, overlain with the tapered section of the shroud, forms an inclined surface on which the baby can place their hands once standing erect in order to help them balance in this standing position, as shown in
The significant weight of a water-filled or other ballast-filled 5-gallon water cooler bottle serves to stabilize the stand-up aid, and hold it stationary when the climbing elements are being pulled on by the baby. Since many households use water coolers as their primary supply of drinking water, the present invention thus makes use of an existing heavily-weighted household object that most customers will already have in their possession. Accordingly, the manufacturer only need supply a compact, lightweight, and foldable or bunchable bottle cover to the consumer, who assembles the final apparatus by simply installing the cover over their existing water bottle. No bulky, heavy, structural assembly need be distributed to the customer, thus minimizing transport costs and retail shelving space. The customer also benefits from ease of setup, and optional compact storage of the folded/bunched bottle cover during times of non-use. Many households keep at least one water cooler bottle in reserve to replace the current bottle on the water cooler, and the present invention puts this reserve bottle to a useful purpose, rather than just taking up valuable storage space in the house.
To encourage the baby to initially approach the encapsulated water bottle, and subsequently climb up same upon arrival, the bottle cover can be equipped with any variety of ornamental and/or interactive elements for attracting and maintaining the attention of the baby, thus encouraging baby-initiated use of the apparatus, thereby accelerating the baby's development of gross motor skills.
In the illustrated example, an ornamental or decorative topper 34 is attached to the upper section 29 of the shroud 24 that surrounds the neck of the bottle, such that the decorative topper sits atop the bottle neck in the installed position of the bottle cover. As demonstrated by illustrated embodiment, the ornamental topper may incorporate a facial representation of a character or animal, though this is just one non-limiting example of an ornamental topper. While in the illustrated example, the shroud is of simple, thin, fabric construction with its outer shape thus generally conforming to that of the bottle, the shroud in other embodiments may incorporate padding or stuffing in a non-uniform manner imparting variation to the exterior shape of the shroud, for example to resemble the body of the animal or character whose facial likeness occupies the ornamental topper 34. In one example, the bottle cover may represent a snow man, with the lower section of the shroud having white, rounded exterior surfaces simulating two snowballs of a snowman's body, with the upper one such simulated body snowballs residing in close conformity over the shoulder of the water bottle. A third uppermost snowball would be embodied at the upper section 29 and ornamental topper 34 of the bottle cover to simulate the snowman's head, which may be equipped with a protruding carrot-shaped nose and/or pipe for optional gripping by the baby in a standing position capable of reaching such grippable ornamental elements.
Instead of the topper representing an animal or character, it may alternatively represent an object, for example a plant or food item. For example, the bottle cover may simulate a tree, with the shroud being shaped and coloured to represent the trunk of the tree, while the ornamental topper visually simulates a tree canopy with radiating branches or palm tree leaves. In another example, the bottle cover may simulate a pineapple, with the shroud being shaped and coloured to represent the skin of the fruit, while the ornamental topper visually simulates the leafy crown of the pineapple.
In the illustrated example, the facial representation includes low-hanging ears 36 reaching into close proximity to the shoulder of the water bottle to enable gripping and pulling of the low-hanging ears by the baby, for stabilization, balance or amusement purposes. Made of sufficiently light material, the hanging ears may also be free-swinging so as to sway or shift under the affect of air currents, whereby such movement helps draw attention of the baby toward the apparatus, and on arrival at the apparatus, draws their attention upwardly to encourage climbing. Downward-hanging leaves or branches in plant or food simulating embodiments may be used to similar effect, as may other downward hanging elements that aren't necessarily part of visual simulation of a character, animal or object. For example, fabric tags are known to be attractive playthings to babies, and thus may be incorporated on the low-hanging elements of the ornamental topper 34, or at other locations thereon low enough to be reached in the baby's standing position to serve as a tactile plaything.
The topper may include small mirrors or other shiny reflective articles to likewise draw and maintain the baby's attention, and may for example be applied to free-swinging elements like those described above to create further visual stimulation for attraction purposes as the light reflection varies with movement of the free-swinging elements. Interactive elements grippable by the baby, whether in the form of the hanging ears, branches, or leaves; protruding nose or pipe, or other hanging/protruding elements, may incorporate crinkle material (e.g. plastic film contained in a protective fabric envelope) to create an audible crinkle effect when gripped and crumpled by the baby. The topper may also incorporate electrically illuminable devices that switch between on and off states, optionally in a flashing pattern, to visually draw the baby's attention. The same devices, or other electrical devices additionally or alternatively incorporated into the decorative topper, may incorporate audio-playback functionality to play sound effects for audible attraction purposes.
In addition or alternative to their incorporation into the ornamental topper that resides above the bottle neck, any of the forgoing interactive elements (including shiny/reflective articles, illuminable devices, audio playback devices, tags, etc.) may be incorporated at the neck-surrounding upper section 29 and shoulder-covering tapered section 27 of the bottle cover 10, thus providing visual and/or tactile stimulation to the baby once they achieve a standing position with manual access to the tapered and upper sections of the bottle cover, as shown in
Other interactive elements optionally attached at one or both of the tapered and upper sections of the shroud may be used to provide oral stimulation, for example in the form of chewable tags or teething rings. Connection loops or clips for selective attachment of separate toys or accessories may also be provided at one or both of the tapered and upper sections of the shroud to enable parents to selectively attach toys or other existing attractants to which their baby already has an established affinity, thereby further encouraging baby-initiated use of the apparatus.
When the baby is climbing up the side of the bottle into a standing position, and while the standing baby is subsequently interacting with interactive elements on the shroud 24 and/or topper 34, the baby is standing atop the floor mat 28 of the bottle cover, whereby slippage of the bottle cover around the water bottle is prevented by the baby's own weight. The baby's weight exterior on the mat thus serves to anchor the bottle cover in place. Additional resistance to such slipping of the installed cover relative to the water bottle may be provided by placement of frictional grips of greater frictional coefficient than the constituent fabric of the shroud on the internal surface of the shroud, thus providing movement-resisting friction between the bottle and the shroud.
In addition to such slippage protection provided by the baby's own weight via the floor mat to ensure the stability of the bottle cover relative to the bottle, further stabilization of the water bottle itself may be incorporated into the apparatus to augment the inherent stability provided by the bottle's ballast-filled weight. An example of this is shown in
To install the braces, first the bottle cover is placed in the installed position over the ballast-filled water bottle seated on the floor/ground surface S. Moving around the bottle cover from pocket to pocket to install the braces respectively therein one-by-one, the floor mat is temporarily folded upward to reveal the opening therein at the bottom end of the respective pocket, though which one leg of the L-shaped brace is inserted into the pocket. The other leg is seated on the floor/ground surface S, and the floor mat 28 is laid back down to conceal this floor-lain leg of the brace thereunder. Alternatively, the braces 38 may be permanently incorporated into the bottle cover during manufacture, for example by encapsulating the braces into sewn-closed pockets, rather than requiring user-installation of the braces during setup of the apparatus with the water bottle at the user's home.
In another embodiment, instead of using the shroud to position the braces relative to the water bottle, an alternative technique may be used, for example by having an elastic or tightenable belt or strap onto which the braces are affixed at spaced positions. The user the belt or strap circumferentially around the bottle near the bottom of the lower main body to hold the braces in place against the peripheral wall 16 of the bottle. Preferably, though not necessarily, this belted or strapped installation of the braces is performed before subsequently installing the bottle cover, whereby the braces get covered by the floor mat of the subsequently installed bottle cover to in order protect the baby from contact with the braces. These are only select options by which auxiliary braces may be cooperatively installed on the bottle, and other techniques may alternatively be employed.
Along an inner perimeter edge 28C of the laid out mat 28′ that denotes the boundary of the central opening 42, the topside of the mat features a continuous strip or discrete pieces of hook or loop fastener 46A spanning or distributed around the central opening 42 for mating with a mating continuous strip or discrete pieces of hook or loop fastener 46B attached to the separate shroud 24′ around the perimeter of a bottom opening therein, as shown in
At generally equal angular intervals around the circumference of the central opening 42 at radial orientations relative thereto, the mat 28′ in the illustrated example has a set of predefined fold lines 48 that divide the mat's annular shape into a plurality of segments 50A-50D of generally equal arcuate measure between its two ends 28A, 28B. The illustrated example features three separate fold lines 48 defining the mat into four roughly equal segments 50A-50D, though the quantity of fold lines (N) and resulting quantity of segments (N+1) may be varied from that shown. When the detachable shroud 28′ is removed, and the mat's end-fasteners 44 are unfastened to disconnect the two ends 28A, 28B of the mat 28′ from one another, the segments 50A-50D can be folded over one another, for example in accordion fashion, into a segment-shaped stack. This folded state of the mat 28′ is shown in
Such segment-over-segment folding of the mat 28′ may be performed by the user for storage purposes, regardless of whether there or not there are predefined fold lines for visually guiding this folding pattern. If included, the fold lines may be purely visual indicators, e.g. printed markings on the fabric of the mat, or may have a physical/tactile distinction from other areas of the mat. For example, each fold line may comprise a sewn seam, which optionally may be a pinched seam of reduced thickness relative to thicker padded areas between such seams, if the mat has a padded construction. In such instance, the pinched seam may lack the internal padding of, or have reduced padding relative to, the thicker padded areas to provide increased flexibility needed at these fold lines to fold the thicker padded areas into stacked positions flush atop one another.
Each segment of the mat 28′, at an underside thereof that faces the floor or ground during use of the mat, has a respective sleeve or pocket 52 lying radially thereof, in which to receive a respective one of the foldable stabilization braces 38′. Each foldable brace 38′ features a base leg 38A, and a bracing leg 38B pivotally hinged thereto. When in use to stabilize the water cooler bottle 12, as shown in
The side of the bracing leg 38B that faces the water cooler bottle 12 is the side thereof facing the 270-working range of the hinge, whereby the bracing leg 38B cannot be tilted outwardly away from the water cooler bottle 12, and thus serves to stabilize the bottle. In other words, in the installed working position and unfolded state of the brace 38′, an inner side of the bracing leg 38B that faces the base leg 38A in the folded state must be faced inwardly toward the bottle 12, while the inner side of the base leg 38A that faces the bracing leg 38B in the folded state must be faced downwardly toward the ground or floor. For safety, one or both bracing legs 38A, 38B may be visually marked to guide their proper placement in this manner, as improper placement would defeat the functionality of the stabilization brace. Alternatively, or additionally, each stabilization brace 38′ may incorporate a locking mechanism that locks the stabilization brace in an unfolded position with the legs 38A, 38B diverging at ninety degrees, to prevent or reduce concerns over proper user-placement. For optimal safety, a self-locking mechanism may be employed that automatically engages when the brace 38′ is unfolded, and can only be unlocked for re-folding and storage when a specific lock-release function is performed by the user. In embodiments with locking braces, a specific 270-degree working range of the hinge is unnecessary, and a 90-degree working range would optionally suffice.
This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/848,832, filed May 16, 2019, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62848832 | May 2019 | US |
